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Raven did not know what either of the parties felt about the meeting. Polite greetings were exchanged, but his friends did not immediately see Amabel’s perfection.

As they turned away, Amabel said, “I didn’t know you counted a duke as a friend.”

“Since we were boys,” he said, tugging her toward the terrace and the garden beyond.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked, her lips in their familiar pout.

“You’ve not seen the garden yet.”

She checked her step and looked up at him. “Must you really dance the first set with Lady Cassandra?”

“I must.”

“Then I shall have to make do with Tyne.” She tossed her head. “He doesn’t have your ear for the beat, you know. Maybe we should get lost in the garden.”

He gave her a warm smile. “We can try.” He led her out onto the terrace. The moon was bright overhead, and dozens of lanterns dotted the paths.

She gave a little gasp of delight, and he squeezed her hand. “I’m glad you like it.”

“I do,” she said. “But…”

“But?”

“I would like it so much more if it were truly yours. Do you see them often … your landladies?”

“Hardly at all. The dowager has forbidden me to enter the stables.”

“Does Lady Cassandra ride? I thought after her accident that she gave up riding.”

“Actually, she walks a great deal, but her rambles don’t take her near me.” That was the truth. Cassie was quite good at avoiding him. It threw him off his stride to be speaking of Cassie with Amabel. He reached in his pocket to check for the ring box.

They descended the terrace stairs and strolled along a grass path through the center of the garden, their way lighted by colored lanterns. The air was cooler than the ballroom, but warm enough to inspire the male crickets to sing their song. A few other guests stood on the terrace or wandered about the paths.

Raven led Amabel to the bench he had chosen. All summer he had thought of it as an enchanted place. Now, moonlight bathed, the stone looked cold. He spread his coat over the bench, and Amabel sat and folded her hands in her lap. Her dress glimmered like a shining river of silk.

He stood before her. “You must know that I have been looking forward to this moment for some time.”

She nodded, her posture expectant, her eyes bright, the tiara on her curls glittering.

He had practiced different ways to tell her he loved her. None seemed right. The words wouldn’t come. He decided there would be time to declare his love later. He still felt off his stride, and he settled for being accurate about his pursuit of her. “From the moment we met, your smile, your laughter inspired in me a regard I had not felt before, and which I hoped one day you could return.” He dropped down on one knee, and took her hands in his. “If you can return that regard, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

Music drifted out from the hall. A woman laughed gaily from the terrace. The crickets chirped on. Amabel tilted her head to study him, and he could not be sure if what she saw in his face made her hesitate to answer, or if she regretted those other suitors she’d turned down. He did not dare draw a breath. There was a chance she would refuse him. The grass was wet under his knee.

At last, she smiled. “Yes, I will marry you.”

He raised her left hand to his lips and placed a kiss there. Later, he would worry about kissing her lips. He rose and joined her on the bench. “I have something for you.” He took her hand again and unbuttoned her glove, sliding it down her arm, and tugging her hand free of the satin. Then he pulled the little Rundell, Bridge & Co. box from his pocket, and opened it.

Amabel squealed with delight, and clapped her hands to her lips. “It’s beautiful,” she said.

“It’s fitting then,” he said.

She held out her hand for him to slip the ring onto her finger. In the moonlight, the diamonds glittered coldly. “We must go back inside. I must see it in the light.”

He helped her up, and she tucked one arm in his, still holding out her other hand in the moonlight. When they reached the terrace, she stopped and turned to him. “We will have a brilliant wedding, and you will go higher. I know it.”

*

As they reentered the ball, Raven caught the eye of the orchestra leader. The musicians had played for over an hour, and their leader was clearly ready to begin the dancing. A quick look around the ballroom did not reveal Cassie to Raven. Perhaps she had decided not to come after all. The plan was for Amabel to tell her news to her parents first, and then for she and Raven, standing with her parents and his grandfather, to announce their engagement to all the guests. And everything was going according to plan.